The Best Version of Soto Has Arrived

What Juan Soto has been able to do in the month of June has been overshadowed by the team’s struggles. If there was any doubt surrounding his fit and what the New York Mets were getting from him, that has quickly disappeared. Soto continued his red-hot form Wednesday, leading the way in a 7-3 win over the Atlanta Braves. The Mets are finally on the board against the Braves this season.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Soto gave the Mets a 2-1 lead with a first-pitch home run off Didier Fuentes to center field. Three innings later, with the game already blown open, he added his second. Soto crushed a four-seam fastball off Austin Cox, hitting it just over the wall in center field and the outstretched glove of Braves outfielder Michael Harris II. That gave the Mets a 7-1 lead, one they would hold onto.

“The same guy we saw early in the year when it seemed like the world was coming to an end because Juan Soto wasn’t hitting is the same guy now. Back then, he didn’t get too low. Right now, he’s not too high. That for me and for all of us is pretty impressive,” Carlos Mendoza said about Soto.

Soto made history. No surprise there. Soto now has 27 career multi-home run games, the most by a player before turning 27. He is also the first Met to have 10 home runs, 20 runs and 20 walks in a calendar month. Soto accomplished that with four games left to play in June. Really impressive. Soto’s numbers in the month jump off the page. He is slashing .325/.485/.753 with 10 home runs and 18 runs batted in. His 236 wRC+ leads all major league hitters.

Early on in the season, Soto fell behind in a lot of at-bats. There were plenty of occasions where he would take the first pitch, especially in his first at-bat of games. His approach at the plate appears to have changed in terms of aggressiveness. At least slightly. Four of Soto’s home runs in June have come in at-bats lasting three pitches or less. Lately, he has jumped on mistakes in the zone earlier at times. Doing that every so often makes it even more difficult for opposing pitchers to get him out.

When Soto signed with the Mets for record-breaking money this past offseason, expectations were sky high. Right or wrong, unrealistic or not, that was the reality for him. After a slow start, some of which was due to running into bad luck, the best version of Soto has arrived in Queens and at the perfect time. With the Mets right in the thick of a two-team battle for the National League East, being able to count on their star changes so much in that race.

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